:durtle_hello: Let's Durtle the Scenic Route 🐢

Sorry for triple posting, haha, but is it cheating if a word comes up for review when it’s literally onscreen in the other window you have open

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It is all interesting, so it’s OK! :durtle_noice:
Haha no, that just means you have real world exposure to it, so probably know it quite well :durtle_megane:
Time will tell if you remember it next times, chances are it will not be up each and every time (and if it is, you will certainly know it)

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phew finally hit the first level 6 radical after spending 11 days finishing up my level 5 vocab! it’s going to be a long one!! lol

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I hit level 10! It took me 16 days this time because I just did 3 kanji a day (plus 10 vocab), even when the whole second batch of kanji was at the front of my lesson queue. But it shaved off a little of the mountain of vocab I had waiting for me upon leveling up, so I don’t mind taking an extra day or two, haha

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Whoop! 39 days and finally levelled up :joy: 16 bits of vocab from the last level left, but that’s not too bad!

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That ain’t bad! I spent 754 days on level 1 :durtle_megane:
(OK, so I waited till I could afford the subscription, but still, a fine number :durtle_noice: I did use 50 days on level 6, my slowest yet (since actually starting))

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You guys are the best, I always feel so validated! :sparkling_heart:

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@DurtleHeaven quick question, what plug in is this? it’s beautiful and also full of helpful info!

Also a question to everyone: what’s a good number of lessons to get through in a day? I’ve recently been doing 15 a day but i never manage to get my lesson pile to 0 before i hit a new level and my lessons jump back up.

(thank you @fallynleaf for correcting me)

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I assume you mean a good number of lessons to get through in a day? It basically all depends on how many daily reviews you’re able to handle. Some people are able to handle larger review piles, and can therefore take on more lessons daily. I wouldn’t worry too much about never being able to hit 0/0. As long as you’re getting your vocab done in a fairly timely manner (and aren’t putting it off for several levels like some folks do), you should be fine, even if you never actually zero out the lesson pile.

If you’re doing 15 lessons a day, that’ll put you on a pretty good pace to complete WK in less than two years, I think. As long as you’re able to handle the daily workload (it will eventually increase a little bit once your burn reviews start coming in), it’s a good pace. If it ends up being too much work for you on a daily basis, you can drop down to doing fewer lessons a day. If it ends up being slower than you would like to be going, you can take on more lessons and increase the pace. The most important thing is that whatever pace you choose to go, it should be something that you can maintain on a daily basis. If you start to struggle to complete your daily reviews, you’re likely going to burn out.

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Oh yes, I LOVE that script! :durtle_love:

I rarely do more than 10 a day, and not every day (If I am busy I just skip)

I agree with the 0/0 is an extra step, as long as you get the vocabulary done shortly after level up you are good :durtle_noice:
But if you do want to join the 0/0 club, here are some tips (Or how I do it):

Only do lessons when reviews = zero
Do vocabulary first. Then you do kanji. If new vocabulary unlocks, prioritize them
The radicals are fast and easy and I like doing them in one go, so I do them last.
When I do the radicals with no other lessons, and zero reviews, I get the zero zero.
Doing the radicals last can affect level up speed. But we are going for consistency, not speed :durtle_noice:

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It’s funny, because we have the exact opposite approach, haha! They’re always my first batch of lessons after leveling because I treat them as sort of a day off/reward for managing to make it to another level. It’s almost like taking a deep breath before wading into the storm. My level up pace is slow enough, I don’t need to do them right away in order to maintain my pace, but it’s nice to be able to do 3 kanji lessons a day at a steady rate without having to wait for anything to unlock by the time I get through the first set.

I usually start with the radicals (all in one go), then do 10 vocab + 3 kanji a day until I run out of kanji lessons, then I do 10 vocab every day while waiting for the last set of kanji to reach guru. I’ve realized that I like having a few days at the end to sort of relax. For a couple levels, I tried doing some vocab-only days at the beginning of the level (and waiting to start any kanji lessons), and it was nice to see the lesson pile go down a little more (before I guru the new kanji all at once and the numbers shoot right back up again), but I really prefer to spread out the kanji lessons as much as possible because they’re the most difficult lessons for me. My current schedule is nice because the first day of the new level is the easiest, then the next eleven or so are tougher, then it winds down again at the end.

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I see them as a treat too. But I like to “earn my treat” by clearing the other items (while you use it as a treat for leveling)
It causes a short break of a few days mid level, but I like having a break mid level. I rarely do lessons in the weekend anyway, so don’t notice the wait that much as I wouldn’t have done lessons even if I had any.

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I would say 10-20 lessons per day, but that largely depends on your memory. You can do more if you want, but then you kind of risk the memorized items becoming “volatile” and never quite sticking forever. For me some items are easier to remember, some harder. I didn’t find a strong correlation yet. I already accumulated several leeches, unfortunately :stuck_out_tongue: .

If you want to make sure your lesson queue is empty before you progress to the next level, you can simply space out your kanji and radical lessons more, since only these will generate new items. Vocab items are “terminal” - once you do them, they’re gone from your lessons pile.

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I got thrown off by the readings for different amounts of minutes, so I added the irregular ones to my Anki deck and practiced them until I felt decently confident about them, but then it turns out that the hours also have a few irregular readings haha :sweat_smile:

This message has been brought to you by me failing a section in my workbook today because I didn’t realize I was only half prepared for it.

The good news, though, is that I completed lesson 4 of Minna no Nihongo! I also added the hour readings that were causing me trouble to my Anki deck, so hopefully I should be more prepared in the future!

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Which hours have irregular readings? As far as I know all fall within the variations of basic readings :slight_smile: .

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Well, 4時 is よじ and not よんじ, which threw me off, and 7時 is しちじ (I thought it would be like 7分, which is ななふん, especially since ななじかん is an acceptable reading for 7時間), and 9時 is くじ (while 9分 is きゅうふん). So, yes, they do fall within the variations of basic readings, but they’re not the same variations that minutes use haha

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Yeah, those are just kun’yomi and on’yomi readings :). For things like higher day numbers several readings are acceptable even, for instance for 14日 and 17日. ななじかん sounds a little unusual to me. I always say しちじかん.

You have similar shortening with years in 4年 (よねん).

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What I don’t understand is why 7 minutes (as well as 700 and 7000) uses the kun readings and why 7 o’clock uses the on readings, but I suppose English has plenty of weirdness with our numbers, too, haha, so it’s just something you have to learn! I believe both of these readings for 9 are on’yomi, but for some reason, one is used with some counters and the other number is used with others. I think I’ll probably just have to keep an eye out for 4, 7, and 9 specifically when I learn any new system of counting numbers and just not assume that the readings will be the ones that I think.

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9 is usually きゅう (most, including month units like 9ヶ月) or く (hours, calendar months, days above 10, like 19日). The only different reading I know is for 9日 (9th day) and 九つ (9 things, generic counter). Other counters typically use きゅう.

4 and 7 are a little more tricky, yeah, but it’s on’yomi for calendar months and hours and kun’yomi for much of the rest.

The interesting reading variations for 4 and 7 are with x4日 (〜よっか, 〜よんにち) and x7日 (〜しちにち、〜ななにち).

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I return to report of a level up. 66(days)19時間(hours). caw.

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